La Nostra Conclusione: Our Ending
by wolfsrainrules
Summary: Everything had been going right. Everything had been fine. Then the zombies came and everything went to Hell in a hand basket in a fight for survival, but no matter what Natsume knew they would face the end of this together as a family. (FEM 27 Warnings and Longer summary inside)
1. Chapter 1

**I was on K. D. Ownz profile, and I misread the sentences "I like R27. Wouldn't it be awesome to fight in a Zombie Apocalypse?" I read it as "I like R27, wouldn't it be awesome to see them in a Zombie Apocalypse" and thus….this was born.**

**Now…I'm better at writing a Fem! 27 (in my opinion) since I better understand how a female mind works. That's why I tend to write Fem Characters since it's easier for me. So that's why this is FEM27 I'm sorry if you dislike that- there is a back button right over there for you to click.**

**I don't own KHR this applies throughout. **

**Warnings: OOC! AU! Fem! 27 Adult! Reborn. R/Fem! 27!**

Summary: Everything had gone horribly, horribly wrong. It shouldn't have ended this way! Natsume had finally accepted her place as Decimo at the age of 17, and was participating in the final stages of training. Reborn was now standing at the age of 18 having aged quickly from his toddler form after the curse was broken before suddenly stopping there though no one but Reborn knew why and he wasn't talking. Mukuro had been freed and placed in her care. Everything had been fine. Then IT happened and everything was destroyed. As far as Natsume knew… only a few humans had managed to survive and even now that was a constant struggle of life and death every minute, every second of every day. She wasn't sure how this was going to end- all she knew was whatever the ending…it would be _their_ ending. They would face the end together…as a family.

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The day that _it_ had happened started out normal for Natsume 'Mei' Sawada. She had been woken up by the now 18 year old Reborn using a Leon-Mallet on her face, and been forced to get up and dress and head out for more 'training.'

Her Guardians along with Kyoko, Shamal, Haru, I-Pin, Fuuta, Bianchi, Spanner, Shoichi, Ken, and Chikusa had all come along at Natsume's request. A few had to be bribed with various things ranging from a spar to Natsume's cooking, but they were there. Reborn had questioned her when he saw her face as she demanded they come with her. Natsume had told Reborn she had a very bad feeling about today and her Hyper Intuition was telling her to gather her friends to her side. He had taken one look at her serious worried but determined eyes and nodded once before gathering everyone together.

Natsume would have brought her mother, Dino and the M.M. girl that was always with Chrome's group along too, but all of them were in Italy. Dino was caring for his family and her Mama was spending time with her Father. She didn't know where M.M. was, but she knew it was for a personal mission. Yamamoto's dad wasn't in Namimori since he was out of town expanding business or she would have brought him too.

They had headed up to Death Mountain after convincing Kyoko and Haru they were on the Mountain for a camping trip. At first everything had been fine despite the random explosions and fights that had been happening between everyone, and then Natsume had frozen at the same time that Reborn's eyes snapped up and started scanning the trees.

That had been the beginning of the end.

Natsume had sensed it at the same time Reborn's eyes had focused on something behind her. Reborn had pulled his gun out and shot whatever was behind her before Natsume had a chance to turn around, and she relaxed. She knew Reborn would aim to get rid of the threat, and he never missed.

That was probably why everyone had been so surprised when the person he shot pulled himself up onto his feet, and rushed forward much faster than anyone expected. Natsume's Hyper Intuition is what saved her that first time. She had sensed only a second before he had moved that he was going to attack her, and she managed to turn around and grab the hands reaching for her throat. Natsume wasn't sure _why_ but she knew it was absolutely essential that she avoid this person's mouth, and jerked her head away from him when he tried to bite her.

She could hear Kyoko and Haru screaming, as she struggled to hold the person's hands away from her throat and avoid his bite. She managed to use his momentum against him and threw him behind her into a tree. She winced when she heard the man's leg snap, but she knew it wasn't over yet.

Everyone watched in shock as the male got up like nothing was wrong, like his bone wasn't sticking out of his leg- Natsume noticed that Haru and Kyoko had passed out at the sight of it- and darted forward just as fast as he had before. Natsume dodged him and she heard Reborn fire off another shot.

It only really dawned on her that this man wasn't human anymore when she saw the shot hit him in his heart- which should have been an instant kill- and the male still rush forward towards her like nothing had happened. "He's not human!" Natsume managed to block the male again, but he seemed angry and more vicious and Natsume was forced onto the ground where he managed to grip Natsume's arms and was rushing forward for a bite Natsume couldn't dodge when suddenly there was a flash of movement and Natsume watched the blades of Mukuro's trident pierce through the man's chest and lift him off of her to throw across the clearing. Natsume gasped as the man's weight disappeared and sat up.

Reborn had been by her side instantly standing ready to interfere if the unknown nonhuman creature came towards her while she was injured. He didn't know what the creature was, and that made him wary. Her other Guardians gathered around her defensively, placing Haru and Kyoko at the center of their circle with her, while Ken and Chikusa stood defensibly beside Chrome and Shoichi and Spanner stood slightly behind everyone but still ready to defend themselves and the others. Mukuro quickly smashed his target in his head and Natsume and the others noticed that seemed to have an effect on the him as the creature stumbled and fell where Mukuro used his trident to smash the head completely.

Natsume felt a little nauseous at the sight of such violence, but she had a gut feeling she _had_ to destroy whatever that was or it would have been a lot worse. "Mukuro?"

The male half of her Mist Guardian position turned to face her with stone cold hard eyes that softened slightly at the sight of her. "We must leave right now. We have to get somewhere we can defend ourselves. Somewhere out of sight that will muffle sounds we make with as many escape routes as you can manage. I'll explain when I get there."

Reborn broke the silence "I know a place. Let's go."

Reborn had lead them to an Underground Base Vongola had under Death Mountain pointing out the many escape roots and explaining despite all the exits there was only one entrance and no one could enter through the escape routes as they only opened from inside the Base.

They had all piled into the living room area where Mukuro was silent for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. When he did speak his voice was far away, like he was seeing something in his memories "I never thought I'd see one of their kind here."

"What is 'their kind' Mukuro?"

Mukuro focused his eyes on the only person who had earned his loyalty and devotion. She had freed him from the Hell that was his prison. She had bet her existence on him. Offered herself on top of Mukuro should he ever try to take over anyone to destroy the Mafia. When he had asked her why she had freed him she had answered 'Because you are family and family protects each other even when they've fought each other.' He owed her everything, and through her actions freeing him she had earned the loyalty and respect of Ken and Chikusa. Chrome had been loyal before that, but freeing Mukuro had certainly cemented that loyalty.

"Their kind…" Mukuro sighed. "When I was young and worked my way through all the Paths of Hell I ran into them. They are vile creatures that travel in hordes or packs. They are humans who gave into the sin of greed and did things in their greed that earned them a place in Hell. They are condemned to reside in Hell and hunger forever for the flesh of those who have what they do not. When they find a human they try to bite into them and tear away your flesh because it gives them a taste of what they once had but may no longer keep. The one you saw today is a new…I believe your myth about Zombies is based on these creatures. So the one you saw today is a newborn zombie. He had the strength of a zombie, but he could not think. He rushed in mindlessly after setting his sights on you Natsume and he would have continued to come after you no matter what because he could not think to attack the rest of us. He only had the capacity to focus on one person at a time. The older the zombie is the smarter it gets. Some of the oldest zombies can speak just as you or I can, and they can strategize. We were lucky that he was only a young zombie and not smart. Zombies don't die unless you destroy what is sending the electrical impulses through their body- their brain. That is why Reborn's shots didn't work despite being fatal to a normal person and why- as I'm sure you noticed Natsume- they are much stronger than a normal person. The limiters that are on a normal person do not exist on zombies. They can use 100 percent of their muscle strength. They don't feel pain and they don't sleep. They don't need to."

Natsume and the others- even Kyoko and Haru who had woken up- were all staring at Mukuro in various states of horror and in Kyoko's and Haru's case- who hadn't seen the zombie get up and keep going after a shot to the heart- disbelief.

Natsume knew her Mist Guardian spoke the truth. She gripped her hip length caramel taffy colored hair and pulled closing the warm cinnamon eyes that were now filled with fear. Mukuro remained silent letting everyone absorb what he had said.

"Z-Z-Zombies? Zombies aren't real desu!" Haru was the first to break the silence and Kyoko was quick to agree.

"I don't think that man was a _zombie_ I think he was just…just…a bad man that wanted to hurt Mei-chan!"

Natsume stopped the argument before it could happen opening her eyes and pinning the girls with her wide slightly frightened eyes that had also hardened with determination and were beginning to turn sunset orange around the edges "Haru. Kyoko. I don't know how he got there, or why but I promise that man was a zombie. This isn't a joke or a lie. That man was trying to kill me, and Reborn shot him in the heart to save me, but he just got up and tried to kill me again like nothing was wrong! He just kept coming after me even with a broken leg! If…If Mukuro hadn't acted when he did I wouldn't be here anymore." The girls brought their hands to their mouths and gasped.

"Y-You almost died?"

"Haru doesn't want Mei-chan to die desu!"

Both girls reached forward and gripped Natsume's hands like she would disappear if they let go. Natsume squeezed their hands back and nodded "I don't want anyone to die either. All of you are my family and I won't let you die. I will fight for each of you!" her Sky Flame flared to life on her forehead with the strength of her resolve and cinnamon faded into sunset orange as she straightened. "Mukuro says they travel in packs so there are more of those things out there. We have to be careful and no matter what we have to stick together! We're strongest together!"

Gokudera's eyes lit up "Jyuudaime! I will stay by your side and fight for you always!"

Yamamoto laughed "Ahhaha! Of course I'm staying by you Mei!" his eyes sharped dangerously "I won't let you die either." Then the smile was back.

Mukuro nodded "I have dealt with these before and I owe you my life. I will help you. Kufufu… you always get yourself in interesting situations Lady Vongola."

Chrome, Ken and Chikusa gave her their approval as well.

Ryohei was next "This is extreme Sawada!" he didn't need to say anything after that to show he was in.

Kyoya stared into the orange eyes of his Boss and smirked "You attract strong opponents Little Animal" it was as close to an agreement they were going to get.

Spanner, Shoichi, Bianchi and Shamal all acknowledged her words with various forms of "As you with Decimo."

Kyoko and Haru gave their word they would stick by Natsume and their friends always even if the situation was a little scary. The little ones- I-Pin, Fuuta, and Lambo- understood something serious was happening and that they were going to stay together and they all nodded their agreement. Fuuta even said there chances of surviving increased drastically if they stuck together.

Reborn snorted "Someone has to keep you alive." And that was that.

Mukuro brought their attention back to himself "If they are used correctly we can use our flames to kill the zombies but those of you who don't have a weapon need one even if you can use Flames. We need to gather supplies and be ready to move at any time. We need to sleep in shifts too just in case."

It was the beginning of the end, and as Natsume looked at her family all getting up to prepare for whatever was coming she knew no matter what they would face it together.

And that was a large comfort.

"Dame-Natsume."

Natsume looked up at Reborn.

"Let's go. We have work to do."

Natsume walked forward "I'm coming Reborn."

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**And cut!**

**Here's chapter one. Cannon-differences will be revealed as we go, so be patient okay?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2~**

**Next chapter will have a time skip!**

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The first week after discovering zombies were real was rough.

Everyone had to stay inside the Underground base together and no matter how big that base was people clashed and got on each other's nerves. There were fights, there were arguments, there was screaming and explosions.

It only calmed after Kyoko, Chrome and Haru escaped the Base to head out when they didn't want to deal with it anymore. Natsume had gone after them as soon as she saw them leave, and because everyone was fighting each other they didn't hear or see any of the girls leave.

Kyoko and Haru hadn't brought a weapon still clinging to that disbelief while Chrome had brought her copy of Mukuro's trident and Natsume had brought her mittens and had grabbed one of Yamamoto's extra baseball bats remembering Mukuro's warning. She had slipped out shaking her head at the boys and Bianchi.

No one had noticed any of them were missing until Mukuro had suddenly frozen with wide eyes seconds before connecting his trident with Hibari's face. He had whipped around with a curse and a yell of "The Girls!" Everyone in the base had frozen and cursed as they realized they hadn't seen or heard from any of the girls except Bianchi for the last hour.

Natsume had caught up to Kyoko, Haru and Chrome only moments after they slipped outside and had asked them to come back to the base only to be refused. "It's crowded and everyone is fighting. We need a break Mei-chan we'll go back later."

Natsume had been shot down by all three girls, and while she agreed that she wanted a break from all the testosterone trapped inside the base walls she was also aware that this wasn't safe. She would have just taken them back herself, but she didn't want to force them, and she didn't think she could take them back and watch out for threats at the same time, so Natsume had gone with them instead.

For the first fifteen minutes they had managed to avoid any problems. Then Natsume had heard a twig snap and whipped around just in time to stop the lunging hands with a cry. Kyoko and Haru had screamed while Chrome had yelled "BOSS!" and lunged forward with her trident.

Another zombie had gotten in her way and Chrome had to deal with her while Natsume had taken the bat she was still clasping in her right hand and swung as hard as she could. The bat had knocked her attacker off and Natsume quickly climbed to her feet before finishing what she had started. Chrome had finished off her zombie and the girls had quickly grouped close together.

Natsume had handed Haru the bat she was carrying before swallowing some of her Hyper Dying Will pills and bracing herself. These zombies were smarter than the ones they had dealt with earlier. "There's more." Natsume warned the others.

Each of them shifted to a defensive position as the zombies had poured out of the surrounding woods. Natsume didn't know where they had come from, but there had been a lot of them. Every time they managed to take down one another would take its place. Natsume had managed to get a large thick sturdy branch that Kyoko was using like a club, so Natsume was a little glad for that. They managed to fight continuously against the zombies for forty five minutes before they really started to flag.

There had been a moment where Natsume had thought they were going to die, but then Chrome had exclaimed "Mukuro-samma!" and she had watched as Mukuro, Hibari, Ryohei, Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Reborn all spilled out of the woods with relief.

Natsume had watched as zombie after zombie had fallen to their various weapons. It had given the girls the boost in energy they needed and together they had killed their way through the horde and back towards their base.

They had only entered the Underground Base when they had been sure there was no one or nothing to see them disappear under the ground. The moment they had entered the base Haru, Chrome, and Kyoko had collapsed being caught by Gokudera, Mukuro, and Ryohei respectively. Natsume's flame was still flaring when she snapped the commands of "Take them to Shamal and have him look them over. Tell him to behave himself and when you're done with that toss Kyoko's weapon and clean the other two. We need to find Kyoko a permanent weapon as well. I won't have her defending herself with something as unreliable as a _branch_ again. Hurry." The three guardians had hurried away to obey her command and only when Natsume was sure the three girls would be taken care of did she allow her flame to fade.

She staggered and started to fall as soon as the flame disappeared but she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and stop her from collapsing before she was swept up off her feet and into the person's arms. She recognized Reborn's scent and relaxed in his hold as he snapped "Dame-Natsume. You need to be looked after as well."

"Sorry. When this is over…I need to talk to everyone…" And then Natsume was out trusting Reborn to take care of her.

Reborn looked down at the woman- because she had become a _fine_ woman- that had caused his heart to drop into his feet more times than he cared to count and headed for Shamal. He could hear her guardians following after him but the noise of their footfalls faded away as he remembered that heart stopping moment when he realized _"She's not in the base anymore. She's out there facing God knows how many zombies by herself."_ He trusted her to take care of herself, but the idea of her facing an unknown number of zombies with superhuman strength caused him to worry no matter how much she had improved from the girl who tripped over air and couldn't throw a punch.

Reborn found Shamal hovering over Chrome, Haru, and Kyoko and being hovered over by Mukuro, Gokudera, and Ryohei in turn. They all turned when they heard the footsteps approaching the room. Shamal cursed softly "Put her here." He motioned at the bed by the wall next to Kyoko and Reborn carefully placed Natsume there, pulling the blood coated 27 mittens that became her gloves off her hands and turning to face Shamal.

"They gave you her orders?"

"Yes. I'll behave myself as she asks."

"You had better. I'll be back. Have the rest of you cleaned the girls weapons as she asked?"

Mukuro paused as if he just remembered Chrome had a weapon he needed to clean and he grabbed her trident before sitting in a chair at the foot of her bed and beginning to clean Chrome's trident. Yamamoto stepped forward to pick up his spare bat from Haru's side and he began to carefully clean it sitting in a chair against the wall out of Shamal's way the other guardians-except Hibari who left to stalk through the halls- took chairs around Yamamoto. Ryohei pulled the branch out of his sister's hand and stood up turning to face Gokudera "Will you watch her?" his voice was soft.

Gokudera nodded "Go on lawn-head. I'll watch her."

Ryohei left with the branch gripped in his fist. He wanted to destroy the weapon that resembled the staining of his little sister's hands so he took it into the dojo and began to punch the branch into sawdust. Reborn left the Infirmary area to clean the mittens of the zombie blood after commanding Shamal "Get me if any of their conditions change"

The girls had spent a day resting in the Infirmary before waking. As Natsume had told Reborn she summoned everyone together into the living room once she woke up. Everyone had settled in various places around the living room facing Natsume as she began in a serious tone the others recognized as her 'boss voice'. "I realize that the base feels like it is restricting you and it feels like you are being trapped. I'm sorry you are all not used to being around so many people- especially you Hibari. However zombies have invaded our home. Things none of us had believed to inhabit the Earth have invaded our town and this base no matter how restricting it feels is keeping us safe, and everyone needs to learn to get along. Chrome, Haru, and Kyoko left because they couldn't deal with the screaming and fighting anymore. I may have left to try and bring them back, but I too was getting sick of the fighting."

She pinned everyone in the room with burning cinnamon eyes and everyone found themselves reacting in some way to her show of displeasure- flinching or looking away from her eyes.

"You are all important to me in ways you do not understand. I don't know what I would do if any of you were to die. If I had not followed after Chrome, Kyoko and Haru god knows what would have happened. We may have discovered their corpses once we had left the base looking for them. We have found nothing and always wondered what happened. They may have come back too injured to help and we would have been forced to watch them perish. We were lucky this time. None the less the zombies are getting smarter. They ganged up on us this time."

She pinned each person in the room with eyes that were beginning to turn sunset orange around the edges. "We cannot take chances like this again. With each passing day the zombies that surround this base get smarter and smarter. We may not be that lucky again. All of us must learn to coexist- we must learn to protect each other and fight together. We must learn to cover each other's weakness with our own strengths before we lose someone. We must work like a pack. If one of us fails the others will fail. When one of us succeeds we all succeed."

Her eyes burned with her conviction "We cannot stay in this base forever. The zombies will eventually get smart enough to search for us, smart enough to box us in. We will have to leave eventually. We must use this time to learn to work together seamlessly like a well-oiled machine. This cannot happen again do you understand me?" She scanned the faces of the people in the living room daring them to disagree.

No one did.

Not even Hibari.

They recognized what she was saying was the truth.

Hibari understood the concept of a pack, and he knew with the circumstances being what they were the omnivore and her herd were going to have to grow fangs and become a pack of carnivores. In the wild a pack was more likely to succeed in the hunt then a solitary lone wolf. Hibari had always known this- the problem was he had never found people he had seen as worthy to form a pack with.

He supposed if he had to form a pack Sawada and her herd would become a worthy one. Even if he had to work with the Pineapple- the one who had beaten him- Hibari would rather have him in his pack then in someone else's. And if Hibari was going to be in a pack it would become his responsibility as the strongest to protect and train the others in the pack to be strong like him.

He spoke up "We will have to train. I will not form a pack with weakling herbivores."

Natsume bowed her head in acknowledgement of her Cloud Guardian's words. If they were going to survive a world full of zombies and God knows what else- because if _zombies_ were real what _else_ was- they would have to be a lot stronger than they were.

She scanned the faces of everyone around her "We have work to do."

Everyone in the room stood, ready to find their weapons and train to become the best 'pack' they could be.

Reborn watched his student command the people in the room with pride. If, after all this was over, it was possible she would make an excellent Boss for Vongola. As it was she was going to make an excellent 'Alpha' if he went with the pack theme. _"Well…I have people to whip into shape as soon as possible."_

Reborn stood and followed after the others.


	3. Chapter 3

**So….Time skips! Here we go! There may or may not be flashbacks this chapter, but there will be some later explaining some of the training and what happened to the 'pack'. ^^**

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There was an explosion and fire and smoke.

It shook the earth and caused trees to tumble.

Reborn had Natsume in his arms bridal style running at the center of what they had come to call 'the pack'. They kept moving, leaving the fiery remains of their Underground Base- now empty of supplies which were distributed in messenger bags among the group- ignoring the tremors that shook the ground and the heat they could feel coiling around their backs from the fire.

Reborn wasn't actually sure how this had happened.

All he knew was after managing to stay another six months in the Underground Base the zombies were getting much smarter, they had started running out of supplies, Reborn's Training Boot Camp had worked even Kyoko into a decent helpful level fighter, and Natsume as the leader of their group had slipped out to gather food.

She had come back wounded, bleeding and woozy, but demanding they "Get out! Get out right now, move, move, move!"

The pack had sprung into action grabbing the messenger bags full of supplies and began to funnel towards the exits. Hibari had been in the lead taking his role as rule enforcer and protector of what had become _his_ pack seriously and thus moving to be the first into unknown danger.

Six months was a long time to be stuck in a confined space with a group of people being trained together, eating together, sleeping together, and just living together without getting to know their habits and personality, their quirks and buttons and become attached. Especially when facing something as life changing as the discovery of zombies and the following survival of the zombie invasion. The pack had become close in that six month period- even Hibari got along civilly with everyone at the very least.

Natsume explained to her pack as she went telling them there was a horde of zombies on its way towards them, the biggest she had seen and they were smarter than the last time they had dealt with them. She explained that she had an idea to take care of them, but she needed Gokudera's help.

"Of course Jyuudaime. What can I do?" Reborn had worked Gokudera's habit of screaming and fawning over Natsume excessively out of him with Mukuro's help. He had sent Gokudera into an illusion where his arguing and screaming and excessive fawning over Natsume had gotten them caught by zombies and had led to a very injured Natsume that was left barely standing. The illusion had done its job and Gokudera refrained from yelling unless he had a good reason, he refrained from fawning over Natsume unless she was injured and he didn't argue over pointless things anymore. It was a major improvement in Reborn's book.

"I need you to set explosives you can set off on command and I need it done now."

"Yes Jyuudaime." Gokudera quickly whipped the dynamite he needed out of his clothes somewhere and doubled back a bit to place the dynamite in all the right places to get the maximum destruction. He could see what his beloved Jyuudaime was planning, and he would do his task to the best of his ability- which was pretty damn good if he could say so himself. He quickly caught back up to the pack leaving explosives as he went.

As soon as Natsume was sure everyone was together and Gokudera had set the dynamite up she whispered "I'm sure you know what to do Gokudera-kun." And then she wavered on her feet and her legs started to fold.

Reborn had been there instantly and had swept her up into a bridal hold demanding "What happened to you Dame-Natsume?"

Natsume responded to the sharp command in her tutor's voice on reflex "The horde was bigger than it is now. I fought my way into the base so I could warn you. There were so many…Didn't 'ave enough hands ta block…got hit a few times an' thrown around, but I killed a lot of 'em….Reborn?"

"What?"

"M' dizzy…"

Reborn's eyes snapped down to his student and sharpened at the sight of all the blood leaking from her various wounds. "Don't sleep Natsume."

The full use of her name without the 'Dame' title let her know how serious Reborn was and she nodded once fighting with the sense of sleepiness that wanted to take over her limbs. Reborn had given her an order…and as she always did when Reborn gave her an order that mattered, Natsume would fight to obey it. The rest of the pack had glanced back at the sound of Natsume's voice and Reborn's sharp command.

Reborn rarely had to give Natsume a command anymore. The life and death situation she had been placed in with everyone else had forced her to take the leadership role since everyone with her had already seen her as 'Boss' and someone had needed to take up the mantle. As such she had quickly applied the lessons Reborn had been teaching her since he had been toddler sized- because he had never been a toddler- finding that when it mattered her brain was willing to provide the information like a perfectly recorded book.

Where most people would have crumbled under the demands of leading, providing for, and coordinating so many people under such stressful life-or-death situations…Natsume had surprised everyone- again- and flourished under the situation becoming the Boss Reborn had known she could be the moment he laid eyes on her all those years ago.

That's not to say she hadn't had moments where she wavered and stumbled under the pressure- because she had- but with Reborn's constant presence, counsel, and teachings she had managed to catch herself before her fall and keep standing tall to lead her pack and turn them from clashing people all allied to Vongola into a close-knit group of people that supported each other when it counted and helped each other when they stumbled.

The fact that Reborn had snapped a command to the woman- because she was no longer a girl- who had been leading them for the past six months when he hadn't done so for the last four months let them know something was wrong. None the less they obeyed her last commands and the pack approached the exit as Gokudera continued setting up the explosives. Hibari was out the exit door- which opened inside a hollow tree- first and he came out ready for the horde the Little Carnivore had said was there.

He found that the horde- largest Hibari had ever seen and that was after the Little Carnivore had killed hundreds if the bodies were any indication- entirely focused on getting into the base- and they had succeeded. He could see the horde pouring into the Base from where he was standing, but he made no move to attack them. There were thousands more that he would be able to fight that would be stronger and smarter than these…dead herbivores…Reborn had managed to smash the idea of choosing his battles into Hibari's head. It had taken a lot of work, but Reborn had managed where any other person would have failed. Now Hibari only _started_ fights with the exceptionally powerful- which he found he enjoyed more anyway. Hibari stepped out of the way so his pack could slip out of the base exit. They quickly placed the injured Little Carnivore in the center of their pack so she was better protected from attack before they shot off quickly into the woods- silent thanks to a month of stealth training on Reborn's part. As they moved further from the base Reborn felt Natsume go lax in his hold finally losing her battle with her injuries at the same moment that Gokudera whispered "Boom"

The underground base had exploded into fire breaking the very earth that had rested on top of it. It had caused the earth everyone was running on to shift but thanks to Reborn's hellish training everyone managed to keep moving. If anyone stumbled another pack member was grabbing their arms and stopping their fall. They kept running knowing the explosion would draw the attention of any zombies in the area, and they didn't stop until they found a properly defendable clearing where Reborn immediately set out to looking after Natsume's wounds while the rest of the pack fell into their roles without any words- they had trained and prepared for this day since Natsume had lectured them. They knew what they were supposed to do without direction.

None the less all of them wanted to hear that soft kind voice with a hint of steel and protectiveness giving them orders because it would have meant Natsume was conscious and speaking. Despite moving automatically and fulfilling their duties perfectly each member of the pack glanced over at Natsume being patched up by Reborn continuously- except Haru, who had her chain and scythe weapon out, and Kyoko, who had her chosen weapons of the same baseball bat from before and her handguns at each of her hips ready for use. Both were on watch and therefore continuously scanned their half of the forests for threats trusting the rest of the pack to watch after their friend and leader.

Reborn finished patching her up and settled next to her murmuring loud enough for the others to hear "I will take first watch." He watched as the pack settled around Natsume and himself and settled in for the four hour watch he agreed to take. There was no fire since it would draw the zombies to their location, but Reborn had excellent night vision and had trained the others to see well in the dark as well so he scanned the trees and stretched his senses out carefully all the while his left hand carefully ran through Natsume's hair while his right rested on Leon ready to shoot anything he saw as a threat.

His four hour watch passed with no problems and he shifted calling softly but sharply "Gokudera."

Gokudera stirred awake immediately- Reborn had trained this into the group as well to avoid problems- and murmured "My turn?"

Reborn nodded one "Four hours. Mukuro is next." Gokudera nodded and sat up pulling out a few dynamite and summoning Uri. Reborn lay down next to Natsume after double checking her injuries as he had over the duration of his watch and slipped into a light doze.

Gokudera's watch passed without incident as well. He assumed the zombies in the area were searching their old base and had left the area they were in. Despite that assumption Gokudera was careful and thorough in his search for threats only stopping when his four hours were up calling "Mukuro."

Mukuro's eyes snapped open and he sat up summoning his trident and Mukuowl at the same time as he nodded once to Gokudera who settled back into sleep as Mukuro took the last four hour watch. That passed without incident as well and at 6:00am sharp Mukuro called out sharply, but without warning "Wake up."

Everyone stirred awake, even Natsume who grunted and held her head moaning "What did you do to me this time Reborn?" A few seconds later she answered herself "Never mind. I remember." Reborn quickly checked her injuries and fixed them up again before they started moving through the forests.

They wanted to put as much distance as possible between the base they had blown up and themselves so they were quick and only stopped for short breaks to eat and check Natsume's wounds. It had been going well for an hour, and then there had been a noise.

It was a snapping of a twig that had the entire pack's attention.

They had stilled and carefully began scanning their surroundings for anything that moved.

Spanner had been the one to spot it and had fired the gun he had modified with Shoichi. It functioned as a normal gun, but the bullets exploded like grenades on contact.

The rest of the pack had turned immediately towards where Spanner had fired. They knew he wouldn't have wasted a shot- something else Reborn had worked into everyone else's mind.

A zombie had collapsed forward - you could tell from the grey tone of his skin- and everyone had braced for more.

Reborn had snapped a few commands that had Natsume in the center of the circle. "Reborn! I can fight!"

Reborn replied as he fired a few shots into the trees "Yes, but you're still injured and you tend to fight with your fists."

Natsume furrowed her brows but didn't move. She knew Reborn would just knock her out if she tried to help even if she felt fine. Hibari disappeared into the trees with Mukuro trailing behind him as they carefully worked their way through the area demolishing anything stupid enough to come close. They trusted everyone not to hit them in the trees. Reborn had made sure they knew each other's signature so well they could sense each other even in sleep.

It took twenty minutes of everyone working together to kill off the relatively small horde of zombies before they started moving again.

No one had come this far out from the mountain base and they scanned the area taking in the damage as they approached the town again for the first time in six months. Everyone could sense as Hibari tensed up taking in the damage that had been done to _his_ town.

Buildings were collapsing. There were small fires going in areas, black smoke rose in the distance, trees were knocked over, windows to homes and stores were broken. Cars were left in the middle of the street with their doors open and keys in. Bodies littered the ground.

It was horrifying.

Kyoko looked around with her face stretched horror.

They passed by the cake shop that Kyoko liked to visit when she suddenly gasped "Hana!"

Everyone focused on Kyoko but she turned her eyes to their leader- to Natsume. "Mei-chan please! We have to see if Hana is still…is still…" she couldn't finish the thought, but Natsume knew.

"Lead the way Kyoko-chan."

Kyoko hurried forward, but she didn't run. She didn't want to lead her friends into a zombie horde. She took sure steps towards her friend's home silently praying to any God that listened _"Please let her be okay. Please let her be okay."_

O~O~O~

They arrived in front of where Hana's home should be standing, but they found only rubble.

Kyoko would have collapsed if Natsume hadn't been there to keep her on her feet and tell her "Kyoko! She may be alive! This doesn't mean she's dead! She could have gotten out!"

It gave Kyoko something to hope for. Something to cling to…and she clung with both hands.

Natsume had nodded once and they had started moving only for Mukuro to curse loudly.

Everyone had turned to face him only to see him whipping his trident out and hollering "DEMON!"

They turned to face the threat.

It was like nothing any of them- barring Mukuro- had seen.


	4. Chapter 4

**Those of you reviewing: Thank you. Thank you very** very** much.**

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The demon stood on two legs, had one head, and two arms but that's where the human resemblance ended.

The demon stood at a full seven feet, had pitch black skin and literally glowing red eyes like hot pieces of coal. It had long black nails that came to a point on both its hands and feet, a long tail much like Natsume imagined a dragon's tail to look like with a large scythe like protrusion on the end of the tail coming out of both sides. Natsume could also see two leathery wings folded down on its back and two large horns that extended out then back from its head with two smaller horns underneath the first set.

It blinked as it spotted them and Natsume saw it had two sets of eyelids a clear set that shut vertically and a normal set that closed normally. It scanned the group of people before it and Natsume felt her stomach turn sharply as its eyes lit up and glowed more brightly as it spotted Haru, Bianchi, I-Pin, Kyoko, Chrome, and herself.

Her stomach twisted even more and dropped and she could _feel_ the evil rolling off this demonic creature and it repelled her like water repelled oil. It was disgusting and made her feel dirty especially as it spoke with a voice that sounded almost slimy **"Well, well. More escapees hmm? Women too, and even a female child. Most of you are virgins as well if this nose of mine isn't lying…What a **_**rare treat.**_**"** It licked its lips and Natsume and the other girls stepped back as one with various faces full of disgust.

The males in the pack blocked them from view and Mukuro warned them "Demons are immortal unless you behead _and_ burn them. Forget a step and they'll get back up."

The pack nodded as the demon's eyes focused on Mukuro hissing **"Oh? An educated one hmm? No one else here has figured that out. How do you know?"**

Mukuro didn't answer and instead lunged forward the kanji in his eye changing to a four giving him a boost in combat ability. Hibari came in behind him following Mukuro's lunge with his own.

No one threatened the people Hibari took in as his pack, especially the females and children. Hibari didn't think they couldn't take care of themselves, but he saw it as a his duty to protect the females and children in his pack viciously.

This…_thing_ was disgusting and needed to die. So he would bite it to death.

Shoichi and Spanner pulled their modified weapons out making sure they stood closest to the girls. They could fight well now, thanks to Reborn, but they were still primarily Inventor Mechanics and so they resorted to being support fighters and the last line of defense when fighting happened. Reborn stayed near the girls firing shots towards the Demon's eyes. It wouldn't kill him according to Mukuro, but Reborn was pretty sure even a demon would have to pause when it was shot in the eyes.

Shamal was with them since his Trident Mosquitos didn't work on zombies nor did they work on the demon. He had sent one in to find out while he was talking to the girls. He placed his hand on his own firearm but stayed back. He was the Doctor and if he went down they'd all be in trouble. He was teaching Ryohei to use his Sun Flames to heal, but he wasn't experienced enough to be the only Doctor they had.

Yamamoto and Gokudera shot forward to join in the fight slipping easily into the fight with Mukuro and Hibari. Yamamoto saw Mukuro jump backwards and the kanji in his eye change to the number three. Then he heard the sound of viciously angry dogs and he saw them slip into the fight as well attacking feet, legs hands, and the tail, whatever they could bite.

The demon was getting annoyed and the others could sense it as it fended them off using its claws, scythe-like tail, and even its horns. Natsume made a strangled noise and shot forward before Reborn, Spanner, or Shoichi could stop her.

Reborn watched with his heart in his mouth as Natsume- brave, foolish, sweet Natsume- jumped onto the demon's back her mittens flaming into gloves as she grabbed ahold of the demon's horns and jerked sideways. The strike that would have killed Gokudera missed as the demon stumbled flaring his wings to catch his balance.

"NATSUME!"

"TENTH!"

"Baby Carnivore. Let go."

Natsume jerked the horns again and the demon made a choked sound. It reached back to pull Natsume off, but Hibari and Mukuro were there to stop the hands from getting ahold of Natsume while Yamamoto dealt with the tail, and she used the opportunity to jerk the demon's head sharply flinching only slightly at the loud cracking noise.

The demon stumbled and stilled and Natsume yelled "YAMAMOTO!" letting go of the horns and landing on her feet with a small stumble.

Yamamoto shot forward with sharp dangerous eyes and there was a flash as struck and a thump as the demons head hit the floor. The body stayed standing only for ten seconds but it seemed like forever before it, too, fell.

Gokudera was only a step behind him and the corpse was soon on fire turning into ash as they watched.

It took only a moment and they watched as the black skin faded to white, and the blank glowing eyes lost the glow and turned an ash white much like coal would when the fires died.

Natsume sagged slightly as the adrenaline left her mittens replacing gloves at the same time that various weapons were put away and the rest of the pack approached. Shamal quickly checked over everyone treating the minor scratches the others had gotten not from the demon itself, but from getting thrown into rubble by the demon.

Reborn quickly grabbed her from behind and flipped her around hissing angry "Dame-Natsume!" even as he scanned her over. Natsume let him and called to Mukuro who she could see behind Reborn.

"Mukuro" she waited until his eyes focused on her before she continued and Reborn stepped to her right side "What can you tell us about demons?"

Mukuro looked angry as he answered "Where Zombies are the people who gave into the sins of Gluttony and Greed and in turn hunger for those who have what they don't, Demons are much worse. They gave into Wrath and Pride. They are the people that commit some of humanity's worse crimes. Rape, Cannibalism, Child Abuse, Abuse in general. They are despicable disgusting creatures that deserve their place in Hell and their second death. That is why they want women. They wish to…relive some of their life. They will destroy zombies and each other so no one gets in the way of their…escapades."

The girls looked disgusted and horrified while the rest of the pack instinctively closed ranks around them as if they could protect them from even the idea of someone trying that. Natsume felt Reborn's hand clamp down on her shoulder protectively and made no move to shake him off as she stared in horror at the ash pile left of the demon.

Natsume closed her eyes and took as deep a breath as she could manage ignoring the murderous auras coming off most of the pack.

Something had to of caused this.

Something had to of caused the zombies and the demons to escape Hell and Natsume needed to find out what it was and how to fix it so everything could go back to normal.

She'd even be _glad_ to move out to Italy and become the Tenth Vongola Boss if it meant this was over.

She opened her eyes and pinned the rest of the people there with them "We need to find out what is causing the zombies and now the demons to invade our home and stop it. This isn't natural. Someone is either summoning these things for some reason or someone has opened a gateway and it letting whatever finds its way out to roam freely."

She pinned each of them with a look asking silently 'Will you come with me to stop this?'

And in return she got looks that all answered 'Yes.'

She nodded once. "Then we need to start searching."

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**I'm sorry about the fight scene…That…wasn't my best. I hope you enjoyed anyway.**


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